raptorsandpoultry: nightjarring:I REALLY love the puppets people use to rear wild birds This is actu
raptorsandpoultry: nightjarring:I REALLY love the puppets people use to rear wild birds This is actually a really important practice in wildlife medicine and rehabilitation (I’ve seen rehabilitators dress up as coyotes when caring for coyote pups, too). Responsible wildlife rehabilitation facilities will do everything they can to ensure that their patients are released back into the wild to live out their proper, natural lives. This includes preventing orphaned young animals from becoming human imprints - meaning that they develop completely dependent on human beings for care, don’t learn appropriate species-specific and reproductive behaviours from their parents, etc. The whole notion of becoming a wild hatchling’s new “mama bird” may be cute and all, but in the majority of cases this essentially robs the ability of that bird to live a natural life with its own kind, which can also have detrimental effects on the ecosystem it belongs in, depending on the species. Wildlife are meant to have a healthy fear of humans - they are not our pets, and the most ethical way to appreciate them is to simply observe them from a distance, or support your local wildlife hospitals and zoos. I currently work with quite a few non-releasable education animals that were condemned to a life in captivity because people either decided to steal them from the wild as eggs or chicks, or thought they had the knowledge and skills to ethically and safely rehabilitate a wild bird in their own home, causing them to imprint on humans. Good intentions are not enough when it comes to rescuing wildlife - it takes tons of education, training, and hard work, so please leave it to professionals such as veterinarians and rehabilitators to take care of. -- source link